The Goldfinch: Part 3, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Theo is so terrified about the painting that he can barely process the news that he has been accepted to the early-college program. Yet when Theo hands Hobie the letter of acceptance, Hobie takes him out to celebrate at a “struggling little neighborhood Italian,” along with his elderly friend Mrs. DeFrees. Hearing Hobie tell people about how hard he studied, Theo feels guilty and embarrassed.

To Theo’s surprise, the early-college program isn’t very demanding. Instead, it is a “geeky academic paradise” with no tests or grades, and plenty of opportunity to pursue whatever niche interest that students find appealing. Theo takes the minimum of four courses: Studio Art, French, Intro to European Cinema, and Russian Literature in Translation. In class, he only participates when he has to, and he doesn’t participate in any extracurriculars or hang out with the other students. Yet although he feels lonely, he is also profoundly alienated by the other students, who he finds “earnest, well-meaning, undamaged, clueless.” He cannot relate to teenagers who only care about succeeding academically and who are terrified of any wrongdoing, however minor.

Theo hates the fact that all the teachers seem to know that he is the son of someone who died in the Met attack, and they alter their behavior toward him as a result. Over time, they seem increasingly disappointed by the fact that Theo is not taking advantage of the opportunities the school offers. Theo himself has come to believe that he was only let in out of pity. His midterm reports are harshly negative. The only thing that brings Theo satisfaction is working in Hobie’s workshop. He feels totally cut off from his life in Las Vegas, although he thinks about Boris all the time. With Boris, the present was the only thing that mattered, and Theo got the sense that “life was full of great, ridiculous possibilities.”

Theo thinks about Larry sometimes too, reminded of him when he passes Chinese restaurants, as this was the food that Larry always craved. Theo worries about the temporary and “informal nature” of his life at Hobie’s. Bracegirdle has encouraged Theo to consider living in the dormitories at the early-college program, but Theo thinks this is impossible, as it the possibility that The Goldfinch will be taken or discovered is too great. In order to deal with his anxiety, Theo spends as much time as possible helping Hobie in the workshop. Hobie passes on a huge amount of knowledge about antiques, including the all-important task of restoring an item while ensuring that it still looks aged.

Theo’s days are so similar that time passes quickly. At night he reads Eugene Onegin or one of the many furniture books that had belonged to Welty. The time he spends in the workshop with Hobie passes mostly in silence, but he never feels lonely, and even comes to feel that he and Hobie have developed a form of wordless telepathy. Hobie tells Theo that when he is repairing an antique, the person he is truly trying to “impress” is the restorer who will be working on the piece 100 years into the future.

One day, Theo comes home to find the house full of firemen; Hobie explains that there is a mouse infestation, and that one of the mice chewed through a wire, starting a fire. Theo suggests that they get a cat, but although Hobie agrees, he never does anything about it. Another time, Theo comes home to find Hobie kneeling in his room. He panics, thinking Hobie is looking under the bed (where The Goldfinch is hidden), but in fact he is simply reaching for a putty knife on the floor, as he is replacing Theo’s window pane. 

After eight tense months, Theo finally finds a “solution.” He is close with the men who do moving-and-storage work for Hobie, including a Russian Jew named Grisha who was born in the USSR and immigrated to the US at two years old. Theo befriended Grisha by showing off the Russian curse words that Boris taught him. One day, Grisha asks Theo to help move things into Hobie’s house from the truck, and after suggests that Theo accompany him back to the storage unit, as they are a man down that day. Theo agrees.

En route to the storage unit, Grisha talks about how Hobie is a good man, but says that he is destroying Welty’s once-thriving business. Grisha argues that there are plenty of customers desperate to buy from Hobie, but they are unable to do so because the shop is always closed. He also argues that some of the shop’s existing customers are purposefully taking advantage of Hobie in order to get low prices. Grisha declares that the business will go bankrupt soon unless someone comes onboard to save it. He reflects that this person needs to be “someone like Welty,” who is both savvy and kind.

They get to Hobie’s storage unit, which is large and crammed with objects. Pretending to be casual, Theo asks what prevents people from keeping stolen or illegal objects there, and Grisha says nothing stops them at all—“bury something here and no one will find it.” Later that night, Theo looks through the Yellow Pages, perusing different storage companies. Although there are many specialist art-storage companies, he worries that this will draw unwanted attention, and he thus chooses one that is high-security but “inconspicuous.” The next day, Theo skips class and brings The Goldfinch, still inside its pillowcase and now wrapped in a Bloomingdale’s paper bag, then buys a small, cheap tent. 

Although Theo prepares a detailed backstory, the people at the storage unit are totally uninterested in hearing it. He has placed the Bloomingdale’s bag containing The Goldfinch inside the tent bag, and pays a year’s rent in cash for the locker in which he will place the painting. Walking away from the storage unit building, Theo feels “giddy” with relief. He finds himself walking near his old apartment building, and decides to walk over, hoping to catch José or Goldie. However, when he gets closer he sees that it is a construction site, and the beautiful art-deco lobby has been reduced to a pile of rubble.

Theo asks one of the construction workers what’s going on, they explain that the owners sold the building and that it’s being turned into “upscale condos” which will sell for $5 million each. Distraught, Theo thinks about the doormen and the other building residents, some of whom had lived there for over seventy years. As he walks away he becomes more and more devastated, realizing that the building had been “the last touchstone of the past.” He feels the ground disappear beneath him.